John Sarver
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — Almost 36-years after Eleanore Roberts was killed in her home, her suspected killer has been taken into custody.
Thursday afternoon the Wood County Sheriff’s Department held a press conference to provide an update on the 1984 homicide that occurred in the Town of Saratoga. At the press conference, Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker announced the department had arrested the primary suspect in the 1984 murder of 73-year-old Eleanore Roberts.
“Today investigators from the Wood County Sheriff’s Department and the Department of Justice arrested John Sarver for the murder of Eleanore Roberts. This has been an ongoing murder investigation that many investigators from the Sheriff’s Department and the Department of Justice have been working on for the past decades.”
Sarver, 57 from Port Edwards, has been considered the primary suspect in the case since he was first interviewed in December of 1984. Becker says there appears to be no clear motive in connection with the killing as Sarver only knew Roberts from several calls he made to her home in the summer of 1984 to repair a lawnmower Roberts had purchased from Sarver’s place of employment.
Becker also said the then 21-year-old Sarver left palm prints inside Roberts’ bathroom—where the victim was found by her son with a rug covering her head. An autopsy at the time determined Roberts died from a combination of blunt and sharp force trauma that included multiple stab wounds made by a pair of scissors.
According to the criminal complaint, there were no signs of forced entry, the front door of the home was left unlocked and only three items were missing—the telephone, a pair of scissors and a kitchen knife. The knife and scissors were found a mile-and-a-half from Roberts’ home. The telephone was found in the Wisconsin River.
A full-face ski mask was also discovered caught in the branch of a tree across from the Roberts residence. Mitochondrial DNA from that ski mask analyzed in March of this year by the FBI was traced back to Sarver. The complaint also says the ski mask, the scissors, the knife, and the telephone were all found along a line consistent with the route of travel from Roberts’ home to Sarver’s at the time of the murder.
With Sarver arrested almost 36 years later, Becker says the Roberts family is feeling a mixture of emotions regarding the case. “Very relieved, surreal, a lot of emotions. They’ve been going through this for like almost 36 years. And at other points during the investigation, they thought an arrest was going to be made, and then to be let down, was hard for them. But we met with them, they were greatly appreciative.”
While the case began in 1984, it has never been considered a cold case but remained open through the years. Becker says the case stayed open as the officers involved, both past and present, never stopped searching. “No one ever gave up even though many investigators have retired during this period. Even after retirement, they continued to assist in this investigation. They never lost the passion to see things through.”
Becker specifically mentioned former Wood County investigators Robert Levendoske, Mark Newman, David Laude, and Jay Shroda as officers who continued to work on the case over the years. The Sheriff’s Department was also assisted in the case by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory, and the FBI. The case will be prosecuted at the state level by DOJ Assistant Attorney General Annie Jay.
Sarver is scheduled to make an initial appearance in Wood County Circuit Court Friday at 1:30 p.m.
Comments